Kitchen Remodel Lighting

[bruceb58]

I am remodeling my kitchen and going to get rid of that big out of date fluorescent monstrosity in the center of my kitchen. Going to go with recessed lighting and some pendant lights over an island. My question is what are peoples views of what types of recessed lighting to get. I am thinking about 4" halogens with mr16 bulbs that are 50W apiece but might be suitable for upgrade later with LED when price drops more. Currently, LED fixtures seem ridiculously expensive to me. What are others using these days for kitchen remodels?

Here is a drawing I have showing my proposed light layout. The lights over the island are going to be pendants.

http://www.tahoekeyshome.com/images/Kitchen Lights.pdf

 

[dockwrecker]

Re: Kitchen Remodel Lighting

my only complaint with MR16's is their short life span and that they're rather spendy to maintain. Maybe the LED's aren't so expensive after a couple of years if you consider bulb replacement costs. Nice layout and drawing there Bruce!

 

[MTboatguy]

Re: Kitchen Remodel Lighting

I am currently using 4 inch round recessed lights with CFL floods in them, they work quite well, I have found the halogens are just to short in life span..I really thought I would like the halogen lights, but they burn out WAY to quick..

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Kitchen Remodel Lighting

With the 4" CFLs, what would you consider for spacing? My ceiling is on the short side which is 88" rather than a standard 96" height. I am thinking I might have a bit of a dead area in the center near the back of the island.

 

[MTboatguy]

Re: Kitchen Remodel Lighting

If I am reading your plan correctly, you are planing on putting two lights over your island? If I was you, I would probably put three, one deep and two even with each other...the offset light would cover any dark spot you might have. A triangle pattern.

My ceilings are at 90 inches, so we are not that much different..

Your kitchen layout is actually pretty similar to mine, I am going to print your plan out and compare with my layout and then see how your lighting compares with mine and check for dark spots.

 

[captmello]

Re: Kitchen Remodel Lighting

I would focus on the undercabinet lighting as well. Led seems like the way to go. Can you dim the 4" CFLs? I like dimmers, especially on overhead lights. Looks like a fun project.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Kitchen Remodel Lighting

If I am reading your plan correctly, you are planing on putting two lights over your island?

The two lights over the island are going to be pendants which will probably be 3 feet over the island. The light from those may not be much. I am thinking one more recessed even with the edge of the island offset back from the 2 pendants.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Kitchen Remodel Lighting

I would focus on the undercabinet lighting as well. Led seems like the way to go. Can you dim the 4" CFLs? I like dimmers, especially on overhead lights. Looks like a fun project.

Yes, my plan is to go LED for the undercabinet as well. You can buy dimmable CFLs these days for the recessed lights.

 

[Tim Frank]

Re: Kitchen Remodel Lighting

I am remodeling my kitchen and going to get rid of that big out of date fluorescent monstrosity in the center of my kitchen. Going to go with recessed lighting and some pendant lights over an island. My question is what are peoples views of what types of recessed lighting to get. I am thinking about 4" halogens with mr16 bulbs that are 50W apiece but might be suitable for upgrade later with LED when price drops more. Currently, LED fixtures seem ridiculously expensive to me. What are others using these days for kitchen remodels?

Here is a drawing I have showing my proposed light layout. The lights over the island are going to be pendants.

http://www.tahoekeyshome.com/images/Kitchen Lights.pdf

They call that style "California Kitchen"...I am not sure you are allowed to change it given your location....

Have you looked at any of the new low-voltage systems?

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Kitchen Remodel Lighting

Have you looked at any of the new low-voltage systems?

Yes. Looked at LED but are very expensive if you buy a fixture devoted to LED. The halogens I mentioned are low voltage but hearing from the posters above that they burn out fast.

 

[dockwrecker]

Re: Kitchen Remodel Lighting

Here ya go Bruce...

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Kitchen Remodel Lighting

Here ya go Bruce...

 

[MTboatguy]

Re: Kitchen Remodel Lighting

The two lights over the island are going to be pendants which will probably be 3 feet over the island. The light from those may not be much. I am thinking one more recessed even with the edge of the island offset back from the 2 pendants.

Bruce,

That sounds like a good plan, playing with your plans a bit, actually it looks like your going to be ok, I didn't see any spot in particular that would present problems with dark spots, I have found the CFL floods to actually work out quite nice, they have a wide angle of dispersant so they light everything up pretty good. As my ceiling is at 90" and yours is at 88" it should work out just about the same..

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Kitchen Remodel Lighting

So you agree adding the one more should be good over the top edge of the island?

 

[MTboatguy]

Re: Kitchen Remodel Lighting

So you agree adding the one more should be good over the top edge of the island?

Yes,

I would, I have a program that will display various lighting options in different types of spaces. And it shows that would work out well...

But the rest of it looks quite good...

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Kitchen Remodel Lighting

That sounds like a good program. What is it called?

 

[MTboatguy]

Re: Kitchen Remodel Lighting

That sounds like a good program. What is it called?

Hi Bruce,

It is a custom wrote program that is not commercially available, my Dad had it wrote for him when he was still an active general contractor, it runs at the DOS level, I run it on one of my older home design boxes, now that I am retired, Dad and I every once in a while will do home builds or remodels, so I dug it out of the archives...

I have not looked, but there should be something similar available that you can find on the net now a days...

I just did a search on Google and they have quite a few links to various packages, I used this search term in Google and it returned quite a few hits, might be something there you could use.

"home lighting modeling software"

 

[Mark42]

Re: Kitchen Remodel Lighting

My comment would be you can reduce the number of cans by 3 or 4 if you go with the larger 6" size recessed can. As you know, its the trim that is the expensive part. If you get something that will take the CFL bulbs and look nice, it would be a good way to go. If you have dimmers then the more expensive dimming CFL's are needed. I've only found them online.

With than many lights, using the cfl bulbs will save a noticeable amount of electricity. And with the different color temperatures available, they don't even look like florescent lighting.

Oh, and remember that lights that hang do tend to collect dust and especially grease from cooking. Something else to clean. But they do look nice.

Looks like a nice bright kitchen with a good amount of work space. Hope you find something that works for you.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Kitchen Remodel Lighting

MTBoatGuy,

Thank you very much. I very much appreciate your help.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Kitchen Remodel Lighting

Looks like a nice bright kitchen with a good amount of work space.

I actually acted as the general contractor when I built this house 20 years ago. I should have made this kitchen way bigger. When I build my next house I am going to do things way differently.